RoseTouched Beginnings
by Shadower
Summary: [shounen-ai; sanity] To be granted a second chance at life, offered with a gentle promise... Simple and clean.


AN: This is an idea that's been keeping me company for awhile now. I don't use the usual writing style evident in my other stories, but that's because my purpose behind this was different. Here, I wanted to tell a story, not weave a setting. So tell a story I did ^_^ I was going to place it to the lyrics of 'Simple and Clean' by Utuda Hikaru, but then I decided that I didn't want her words ending this when I wanted my words to. So if you came looking for a song fic, sorry to disappoint you. You'll have to wait for next time.   
  
. . .   
  
The war was over.  
  
Peace was finally their's to be had, calm the truth that underlined their days - and yet, as the shuttle headed steadily for Earth, Heero felt uneasy. Ever since the treaty had been drawn up by the Sanq kingdom, a strange sort of discomfort had invaded his life and taken over him. It was almost as if the constant battles of before had kept him occupied, and now that they were no longer a part of his life his mind was wandering to give him thoughts he found discomfitting.   
  
That, he supposed dryly, was why he had so readily accepted Duo's invitation.   
  
The once-pilot of Death itself - or so he liked to claim - had sent him an offer a few days ago for him to spend the next week down on Earth, and there had been laughter in his eyes as he explained that he needed some help with his homework. The part-time job he had hoisted on himself was eating away at his schoolwork, he'd said, and wouldn't Heero please come down to tutor him or something? Math was terrible. The Japanese had accepted on the terms that he wouldn't stay longer than that given week, and the joy that had lit across Duo's face was more than thanks enough. He was beautiful when his face brightened like that.  
  
He blinked, shook his head violently. Since when had he started entertaining thoughts like that? It was true, he had known long ago that Duo was the only friend he had ever truly accepted, but to go beyond that... Then suddenly he decided that it was a thought come about simply because they had not seen each for so long, and that settled him down. It was all to blame on Time. That was it.  
  
@---;-----   
  
The shuttle landed easily; the doors opened; and, much too quickly for Heero's liking, he found himself standing outside in the welcome sunlight. Cobalt eyes squinted against the brightness, and his gaze scanned the crowd for signs of Duo. Though he trusted his ears to catch first hint of the American, he kept his sight attentitve also. One could never be too careful, especially not around that boy.   
  
His first instinct was right; his ears caught Duo before his eyes did. "Oi, Heero!" The greeting was much too loud and much too cheerful, and Heero winced. Some things, he decided, just never changed. Then he was spun around with the enthusiasm of a hyper still-teenager, and all his thoughts fled. "I was afraid you'd -never- get here!" Duo declared, and his eyes were a bright amethyst Heero found himself drowning in. They seemed a whirlpool of emotions he couldn't ignore, and even as he tried to turn his attention from their depths he felt himself drawn deeper in. Worry creased Duo's brows. "Are you alright?" he asked, noticing Heero's lack of a response, and peered into the other's own sapphires. "The ride was ok, right? Like, no motion sickeness or whatever...?"   
  
He forced himself to rise from the intrigue within Duo's eyes, and his gaze rose to study his eyebrows. "I'm fine." His answer was curt and to-the-point.   
  
"If you're sure..." His words were dubious. Then he bounced back with that ability only Duo seemed to posess, and there was expectancy in his expression as he began to lead Heero towards the park across the street. "There's something I want to show you. Have wanted to show you for half a year now, really. I suppose that's why I was so afraid you wouldn't agree when I talked to you last week." His pace quickened, and Heero found he had to work to keep up. "It's a beautiful pl - thing. I'm pretty sure you'll like it, even though I know you'll never tell me, and that's the only reason I'm taking you to see it." They pushed past the metal archway that was the park's entrance, and a cloud of pigeons rose into the air as they rushed through their mist. "I mean, it's not like I'll ever know whether or not you like it because you -never- tell me anything, but hey! At least you don't complain, either." He turned suddenly, and there was strange worry in his eyes. "...I talk too much, don't I?"   
  
Heero shrugged. "I don't mind."   
  
"Really?" Duo looked surprised, but he recovered quickly. Hope rose to effiecintly cover the puzzlement that had gleamed so shortly, and a wide grin spread across his lips as he gestured around him. "Well then, in that case...what do you think?"   
  
Heero looked around him, if just to humor Duo, and his breath was stolen away by the simple grace around him. Because they had been moving too fast for him to keep track of his surroundings, Duo had led him into a clearing he hadn't even realized existed. They were surrounded by a crescent of maple trees, their outstretched hands colored rich reds, oranges, and yellows, and the palette of their leaves were a stark contrast to the perfect green of grass. The blue sky against which the trees spread their branches softened upon the touch of color, and the clouds were a compliment of cotton white. It was, together, a harmony of Nature that only Fall could ever hold.   
  
Then he realized Duo awaited an answer from him. He turned, favored him unknowningly with a small smile, and said, "...It's beautiful..."   
  
"It is, isn't it?"   
  
Surprise flared in Heero when he heard the note of sobreity within Duo's voice, and alarm shone as he asked, "Is something wrong?"   
  
He half expected Duo to deny that. During their days as partners in a war they had no part in, the younger pilot had always denied all problems and worries he might have, and because of it he was used to denials. Thus he was surprised - more than surprised - when Duo turned a face smoldering with unusual seriousness to him. "I'm...not sure."   
  
"What do you mean?" He was almost worried.   
  
Duo looked away from him, completely unsure on how to begin, and when he finally managed to bring his gaze back to Heero there was uncertainty in their depths. "Heero..." Hesitation was heavy in his very tone, and a catch locked Heero's throat. What was it Duo had to say that he found so difficult? The boy had always been the most outspoken of the five gundam pilots, and the fact that he now was at a loss for words made him cautious.   
  
"Yes."   
  
Duo took in a deep breath, one audible to Heero, and when their gazes locked he seemed to gain strength, for his voice was steady and true. "I asked you to come here...to give you this." He raised his fingers, and there between them was a rose before hidden.   
  
Heero looked at him blankly, and they both knew he wasn't quite sure he wanted to understand.  
  
Duo explained anyways. A darkness had descended upon him, a surity that he knew Heero well enough to know he had clung to the renmants of his life as a fighter, and when he spoke it was with certainty. "It's a rose. A present to remind you that our past is behind us, and that our future stands untouched by death."  
  
Heero didn't reply at first. He only looked at Duo, blue eyes digging into purple, and though his gaze was cold the other never once faltered. Then, "You knew."   
  
"Of course I did. I was drawn to you in a way I'm not sure about even now, and because of it I began to understand you better than anyone has ever thought to give me credit for." I -know- you. And you know me, said his eyes. "I've waited to say that to you. Waited so long, an eternity almost. I knew you'd let the past keep hold of you, and I wanted so badly to tell you right away not to."   
  
"Oh?" His brows rose, and that was the first indication of emotion on his part. "And how long is eternity?"   
  
"Ever since that last cricket's night." Heero was surprised once again. That night - the cricket's night, when the dark-bodied creatures had serenaded the moon - had been half a year ago. He remembered so because that was the first time he had spoken to Duo with true -words-. "Don't look so startled, Heero. ...I know you're still stuck in the past." He wondered how Duo could tell. "I can see it in your eyes."   
  
"I'm 'stuck in the past' because I'm a soldier." He let the October breeze fly lazily past him, toying with his hair before letting go to sing to the leaves. "I was a pilot back then; I'm a pilot now. You remember what they used to call me," and here his voice turned slightly bitter. "The Perfect Soldier."   
  
"That's because you let them. Will you still let them now?"   
  
"Hn."   
  
"I don't want you living as what you were a year ago. Call me nosy if you must, but I want to help you let go. It's...not right, to let this second chance at living pass you by." He help the crimson flower to his face. "In rose - a new beginning, a happiness after the old has ended." The petals, now at eye level, penetrated the violet of his eyes and deepened the meaning that flashed across his face. "It's a symbol of hope for the future. Our past has died, Heero, and what's opening up to us is the opportunity for something far greater than what we've had so far. What it's not is a doorway to escape back into memory." Duo pressed the stem into Heero's hand and wrapped his fingers around it. "I don't care what you've done. After all, we've been partners for so long, and it's only inevitable I know everything that's happened before. What I do want is to start over, to leave everything behind us and to wipe our slates clean. Hence the rose." Heero noticed, with a start, that the fingers before him were so pale compared to the green. Funny how these things just appeared. "The future stands before us as something untouched and untried, and it's high time we left the past. All it has is what we've already burned into our minds. Our hearts deserve a chance to break free and to breath, to rejoice in the freedom we had fought so hard to help achieve." Something danced in Duo's eyes, a shadow darker and deeper than he'd ever seen before. "In rose, Heero." His voice held a strong conviction. "...In rose." His eyes begged him to understand.   
  
And he did. Though he tried to push away this second life, it wrapped around him and he understood with a fierce clarity. Duo was offering him a chance to live again, and he was including himself in that promise. Wasn't he? "And you..."   
  
"I have to start over, too." He grinned ruefully. "For all that I've just given you that entire speech, I've hung on also to our gundam past." Heero opened his mouth to reply dryly, but he cut him off. "Only because you were in it."  
  
"So this would be a new beginning for the both of us."   
  
"Yep." Duo looked almost expectant as he watched Heero, but his face was carefully shielded from all signs of hope.   
  
Then a small smile spread across his face when Heero brought the rose to catch the blessings of the sun. "To the new."   
  
"To life."   
  
To us. And the breeze swept up, claiming the blood-red petals within its wild grasp, and the fires around them burned the rose to the blossoms of hope.   
  
@---;-----   
  
Owari- 


End file.
